11/28/17 @ Vicar St, Dublin, Ireland (Sun Kil Moon)

Comments

Still haven't bought a ticket for this and if I don't go it will be 1st time since he came to Dublin with an orchestral style SKM around the time of GOTGH that I'll have not gone to see him.Plus would be good to move from 13 times seeing him(unlucky for some)to 14.

Hmmm the fact that the reviews on here are very positive might just swing it for me

Do it. Honestly. I was unsure and I had so much fun. It was more like a stand up show featuring music and that really suits his current writing style. From the performance you could tell he still puts a lot (more than we like to give him credit for) of emotion and thought into his work. He hasn't not become a lazy songwriter. Just a different one. The band was especially great as well.

@DonaldDuckKooKim said:
Do it. Honestly. I was unsure and I had so much fun. It was more like a stand up show featuring music and that really suits his current writing style. From the performance you could tell he still puts a lot (more than we like to give him credit for) of emotion and thought into his work. He hasn't not become a lazy songwriter. Just a different one. The band was especially great as well.

@Noise_Annoys said:
I'm passing on this one. Seen him 11 times since 1998. This is the first time I've given up the opportunity to go to one of his gigs. The recent stuff has left me completely cold.

Ah go on...what about FOMO?(Fear Of Missing Out my kids tell me).I was going to pass on this for same reasons but a pal of mine and his wife are heading along and she saw the gig at Guess Who? in Holland and was pleasantly surprised
At least we might get Rock N Roll Singer as a tribute to late Malcolm Young

It was my 14th time seeing him and by a long long way the worst ever
The word "embarrassing" comes to mind and to think I made my son endure that 3 hours of turgid meandering...I'm not even sure what to call it

@victor said:
See you there, last night of the tour, should be good fun as always

Out of interest what did YOU think
You know what they say about opinions
They are like bottoms...everyone has one and thinks that everyone else's stinks
I believe Killian Laher will be reviewing it for excellent Arts Magazine No More Workhorse in due course

I loved the gig and don't apologise for it. The more mark creates and the more you follow his thinking, for me the more it draws you in. I get that less and less of the old fans enjoy the new style, but there is no shortage of fans who get it. I went to six gigs on this tour, it was fascinating to see how the songs evolve from one show to the next and how the song writing process does not stop. Keep on making the music and touring the tours, for those who don't like it, don't listen to it. Nobody is forcing you to listen.

I also think that the review is a little harsh. I would be a little hesitant about writing things like "having a great time at the expense of his audience". I think Mark is enjoying what he's doing and - at least at the Berlin gig - the audience is enjoying it, too (I certainly did and I really am skeptical about his recent output).

Butch Lullaby also was a highlight for me during the concert as you could tell it was a really heartfelt and important song for Mark.

@tyciu said:
This review is ridiculous so much. I mean if you don't prefer Kozelek current music please watch past shows on youtube. Our show in Warsaw 2 weeks ago was so great ..

The review from @klaher is an interesting and amusing read. He is perfectly entitled to give his honest opinion in his writing, as are you, I and everyone else on the forum.

Personally I am not a fan of much of his recent work but I still listen to a lot of his other stuff and the live albums and prefer to block out some of the last few records I've heard of his. I see no reason to get into flaming wars, I will accept that some fans like what he is doing of late, just as those fans must accept that some of us simply can't get into this stuff. I played 'Common' about 3 times (that is a lot of minutes spent). I'm past the point of really wanting and trying hard to like it just because it's Mark, I either like something or I don't. That collection along with Kill Uncle by Morrissey is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. There, I said it.

My gripe with Mark (other than his songwriting style, which as an artist yes he is entitled to do what he wants with, I don't dispute that, it doesn't mean I have to like it though!) is the way he treats his fans which in my opinion has gone beyond banter. So what if we want to hear a few RHP songs or earlier SKM or solo songs? Is it really such a hardship for him to play some? Does anyone genuinely like a full set of songs going back no further than 2-3 years?

Two very different bands I saw recently, for the first time, both ones I wish I'd seen earlier, were Weezer and Depeche Mode. Both played fantastic sets with a wide mix of material from different eras and a very small selection from their current albums. Guess what? The crowds absolutely loved it. Can you imagine Dave Gahan mocking an arena full of fans with "Sorry, we won't be playing Enjoy The Silence tonight so fuck you." and then proceeding to play 16 songs all drawn from their last 2/3 albums? How about Rivers Cuomo announcing "Sorry assholes, we're sick of Buddy Holly so here's something from the new album instead, if you don't like it then fuck off."

Honestly with these recent set lists I would rather stay in and watch 3 episodes of The Chase back to back!

Good work on the review @klaher, reminds me of Pitchfork and their absolute slatings of The Mars Volta. Very entertaining !

Remember this is an open forum, it would be extremely boring if we were all up Mark's arse constantly with not a bad word to say.

I don't mind Kill Uncle, and really liked it when it first came out. I love the sprightly opener Our Frank - which is a stone cold classic Morrissey track!

Asian Rut is a great follow up to Bengali In Platforms. Mute Witness and Found Found Found are very similar to album tracks from Viva Hate. The brilliant There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends is a beautiful and moving ballad (though why it needed replacing with a "live studio" version on the remaster was curious).

Unfortunately The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye drags on rather drearily, as does Driving Your Girlfriend Home, though the latter is quite reminiscent of early solo Morrissey. King Leer and Sing Your Life simply lack substance, though I blame the lacklustre production. Last Of The Family Line sounds like the poor relation to That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, but again I find the sparse production somewhat lacking.

The error was assuming the bloke from Fairground Attraction could write a full album of pop songs based on his one hit single Perfect. He also contributed 2 songs to the next album, which with the veneer of Mick Ronson's glam rock production, sat brilliantly alongside the rest of Moz's best solo album.

The big problem with Kill Uncle was the sheer high quality of the previous two albums (yes Bona Drag is an album!) with great songwriting from Stephen Street and Vini Reilly, then subsequently long term collaborator Alain Whyte combined with Mick Ronson to produce a masterpiece with Your Arsenal, followed by Boz Boorer and Whyte's music combining with Steve Lillywhite's solid commercial production style on the very popular Vauxhall And I.

I understand why folks don't care for Kill Uncle, but I suspect if it had not been overshadowed by 4 great albums both before and after, in quick succession - it might have been received differently.

I was as hardcore a Smiths / Morrissey fan as they come, but I really struggle with Morrissey's most recent output - from You Are The Quarry onwards. I had really high hopes for Ringleader Of The Tormentors, given the highly impressive work Tony Visconti did with Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips' 2 albums around the same time.

The Kill Uncle tour made the songs sound more coherent and substantial. I suspect that was helped by the fact it was Morrissey's first of many tours with the band he subsequently toured and recorded with for over a decade.

The next tour was amazing, with the glam rock of Your Arsenal translating brilliantly to the stage. At the gig I saw at Newcastle City Hall, the enthusiasm of the crowd totally destroyed the first few rows of seats by the end! Fortunately the bouncers who let the crowd rush to the front didn't seem to care.

I haven't had a chance to hear the recordings from Mark's most recent gigs. However I decided not to go to London, simply because I was so impressed with Victor's Magik*Magik recording from San Francisco, I knew a conventional Sun Kil Moon live ensemble could never live up to that.

It was especially disappointing to see Somehow The Wonder Of Life Prevails missing from recent sets. It was rather embarrassing to realise I didn't recognise so many of the song titles on the last few setlists - though that may be just because despite listening to Common As Light many times, I struggle to remember nearly all of the song titles!

If I had seen the setlist before the tickets went on sale I would have passed on this gig. I'm so glad for this forum so I could have a read and get a feel for what he would play. I was really apprehensive going as I assumed it would be a fairly redundant couple of hours. I was very wrong. I absolutely loved it. I'm still somewhat surprised that I enjoyed it so much but it was a brilliant gig. Of course I'd love old stuff, but It'll have to make do that that's what we got when we saw him in Whelans back in the day (remember when he fuc*ed that guy out of it for being on his phone near the start of one of those gigs - ugh, still makes me shudder). There was something about his story telling and the vibe of the band and the homour of Mark and the company I was with and the whiskey I had that just made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

@tyciu said:
This review is ridiculous so much. I mean if you don't prefer Kozelek current music please watch past shows on youtube. Our show in Warsaw 2 weeks ago was so great ..

Two very different bands I saw recently, for the first time, both ones I wish I'd seen earlier, were Weezer and Depeche Mode. Both played fantastic sets with a wide mix of material from different eras and a very small selection from their current albums. Guess what? The crowds absolutely loved it. Can you imagine Dave Gahan mocking an arena full of fans with "Sorry, we won't be playing Enjoy The Silence tonight so fuck you." and then proceeding to play 16 songs all drawn from their last 2/3 albums? How about Rivers Cuomo announcing "Sorry assholes, we're sick of Buddy Holly so here's something from the new album instead, if you don't like it then fuck off."

Sorry but the Depeche Mode / Weezer comparison really doesn't work... These are both bands who I think we can all agree are way past their prime. 90% of the audience goes to these shows to hear the classics and they cater to their audience. That's not a bad thing, but not a good thing per se either. These guys are mostly crowdpleasers, if they felt they really had something important to say they'd probably play some more new songs.

Now Mark's audience is split: some people hate what he's doing now, I personally love it. I don't think there's a consensus this guy is past his prime: I feel like he's pushing the boundaries of songwriting in a beautiful way and I'm not alone in feeling this. He's losing fans because he's doing something completely different from what he was doing and IMO that's actually a brave and artistic thing to do. Every new album he releases takes some time for me to get into, because he's trying something new every time. Not all of it works great, but a lot of it does for me. And every time again I find that if I give his releases enough time, there are plenty of beautiful, heartfelt and original moments on there.